Monocle: Mr. Magazine’s™ Notable International Launch of the Year + An interview with Tyler Brule

If you were told in March 2007 that there is a brand new magazine with a hefty cover price, ads from Gucci, malo, Cartier, PRADA, Audi and Boss to name a few, and no celebrities on the cover or inside, yes no celebrities but rather lengthy in-depth articles about serious issues, great photography and is mainly printed on matte paper with a Manga magazine insert, your answer would have been, “What have you been drinking?” Well, Tyler Brule was probably drinking that Clear Canadian water at the home of his aunt Anita in Toronto 33 years ago. He is the editor-in-chief and chairman of Monocle the magazine that defines itself as “A briefing on global affairs, business, culture & design.” Brule who started Wallpaper* magazine in 1996 in the UK, two years after he arrived there from Canada, outlined the vision, mission and unique selling features of Monocle in its first issue. Monocle will be “A smart, forward looking, single edition global briefing for a highly mobile, international audience,” Brule wrote.
His 10 points outline of the business plan of the magazine was also published in that March 2007 issue. Brule and his team decided the magazine should:

1. Be a complete media brand with print, web and broadcast components
2. Deliver across all these areas in new formats
3. Focus on global affairs, business, culture, design and the best products/services on the market
4. Be an oasis from celebrities and low production values
5. Champion fresh talent for both words and pictures
6. Look ahead, not chase the ambulance
7. Accept no freebies
8. Likewise, not be given away for free
9. Open bureaux, so we have our own people on the ground
10. Do our bit to raise the bar

A year later Monocle has been slowly but surely delivering on its 10 points promise and delivering well. While newspapers are closing overseas offices and trimming staff, Monocle is adding offices and expanding its staff on the different continents of the world. Brule continues to show the world that, on one hand, print is well, alive and kicking and on the other hand innovation in print is needed more today than ever. Monocle earned our first ever title of International Notable Launch of the Year. We asked Tyler Brule seven questions (the same questions we will be asking all the 30 notable launches of 2007). What follows are the Qs and As with Brule via e-mail:

1.What do you consider the single most important achievement your magazine has accomplished in today’s marketplace?

IT’S TRICKY TO SINGLE OUT JUST ONE BREAKTHROUGH. WE’VE DEMONSTRATED THAT FORMAT (TRIM SIZE, PAPER STOCK) IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER IN A DIGITAL AGE. AT THE SAME TIME WE’VE CHALLENGED THE SUBSCRIPTION MODEL AND CONVINCED READERS TO PAY MORE FOR QUALITY – MONOCLE’S SUBSCRIPTION IS 50% HIGHER THAN ITS COVER PRICE.

2.Looking back, what was the most important hurdle you were able to overcome?

CONVINCING LUXURY GOODS ADVERTISERS TO LOVE MATTE PAPER RATHER THAN GLOSS.

3.What was the most pleasant surprise?

THAT GERMANY BECAME OUR THIRD BIGGEST MARKET.

4.What is the biggest challenge you are facing today?

MANAGING NEWSSTANDS IN OVER 40 KEY MARKETS.

5. Imagine you have a magic wand and you can strike the magazine and make it human? Describe that human being.

MONOCLE WOULD BE THAT RARE PERSON YOU END UP SITTING NEXT TO ON A LONG HAUL FLIGHT WHO’S SO INFORMED, WITTY, HANDSOME AND CHARMING THAT YOU NEVER WANT THE FLIGHT TO END.

6. The number of new magazine launches has been on a steady increase. What advice do you offer to someone wanting to start a new magazine?

DO A VERY CONSERVATIVE BUSINESS PLAN AND THEN ADD 50% WHEN YOU LOOK FOR YOUR FUNDING.

7. Finish this sentence: in 2011 your magazine will be…

AN ADJECTIVE FOR QUALITY.

Congratulations to Tyler Brule and the team at Monocle from the entire staff at MrMagazine™. We will be publishing the answers to our seven questions with the 30 most notable launches of 2007 starting tomorrow and for the next two weeks. On April 5 we will announce our Most Notable Launch of Year in the United State from the list of the 30 notable launches. Stay tuned.

The 30 Most Notable Launches of 2007 Plus One …

Once a year my staff and I select the 30 most notable launches of the previous year. The selections have been made and you can view and read about the 30 most notable launches here. This year we are adding one extra magazine to the 30 notables and it will be our International Launch of the Year. On Monday March 24 we will announce the name of the magazine and we will publish a brief Q and A with its founder. Every day after that we will publish on this blog two or three Qs and As with the publishers or editors of the 30 most notable launches. In two weeks we will select the top five most notable launches of 2007 and on April 5 we will release our selection of the most notable launch of the year from the 30 that we’ve selected. For now enjoy the 30 most notable launches and tell us your choice from those 30 which one you feel deserves the title most notable launch of 2007.

If you reminisce the country get Our Iowa

I know Our Iowa is a magazine “for Iowans by Iowans,” but after looking at its first three issues I am sure that folks who reminisce the country and the country way of life will find in this regional magazine a lot to satisfy their desires to that way of life. You do not have to be an Iowan to enjoy this magazine. Founded by the man who created a whole genre of country and country lifestyle magazines Roy Reiman (the magazine’s publisher) and the former editor of Country and Country EXTRA magazines Jerry Wiebel (the magazine’s editor), Our Iowa presents itself as the magazine that “recognizes and celebrates why Iowa is so special to us and to all who live here.” The goal of the magazine is not “to make a fortune on this venture (Reiman already did that when he sold his Reiman Publications to Reader’s Digest Corp.), but “Rather, it’s a chance to put our publishing experience to good use while offering us an opportunity to give something back to our native state.”
In typical Reiman style, the magazine will be written by readers and will depend on field editors across the state of Iowa. In less than six months the magazine has signed up a “Hawk-Eye Field Editor” in all 99 Iowa counties expect for five. By the time you are reading this blog, chances are those five counties positions would have been filled. In the same time period the magazine has “over 23,000 subscribers, and more orders keep arriving daily by phone, mail and E-mail.”
The magazine is not only a delight to read, but also a delight to look at and interact. Yes, interact, since the magazine offers more chances for readers to engage with each other, to engage with the magazine editors, to engage with the state, and to provide a great sense of community in a way that only a magazine like Our Iowa can do.
Am I a fan? You bet you and you should be one. Check Our Iowa here. I know the founders of Our Iowa want the magazine to be for Iowans by Iowans, but I think the rest of the country folks deserve to see and look at Our Iowa. Maybe there is an “Iowan” in each one of them.

More Good Journalism: World Affairs is Back

What do Lawrence F. Kaplan, Andrew J. Bacevich, Helene Cooper, Christopher Hitchens, Robert Kagan, Michel Kazin, Joshua Muravchik, P.J. O’Rourke, Ronald Steel and Leon Wieseltier have in common? They are the editorial board of the newly relaunched World Affairs journal. The journal was first published in London in 1837. Lawrence F. Kaplan, the journal’s editor asks and answers the question regarding the mission of the new World Affairs. “So what one idea will World Affairs champion?” Kaplan asks. He is quick to answer, “There won’t be one, but many: Rather than adhering to some party line, this journal will celebrate and encourage heterodoxy and open debate.” Kaplan adds, “The biases of World Affairs may seem quaint, even parochial, by comparison. The journal will not wear its heart on its sleeve; its probably somewhere in the space between board members Kagan and Kazin, which, as it happens, is also the distance between two sides of the same creed.”
World Affairs’ tag line is “A journal of ideas and debate” and it is indeed a journal of ideas that deserve debate. Ideas that give journalism that matters yet another venue for readers looking for something to sink their teeth into. So, once more for those mourning the death of good journalism, please pick up a copy of the launch issue of World Journal at a newsstand near you. I promise you will not regret it. To learn more about World Affairs click here.

Late ‘07 Arrivals Promise a Blooming ‘08

I thought you would enjoy a fresh selection of new magazines to take your minds off of the fact that you have already broken your New Year’s resolutions (shame on you). And since a new year always brings fresh hope and opportunities, I decided to have a more eclectic mix of new consumer magazines reviewed in the first installment of what’s hot what’s new on the www.mrmagazine.com website. The three reviews are all for new magazines that were born in the midst of the holiday season and thus may have escaped your radar screen. But these late arriving titles make a good promising sign for things to come in 2008. The first reviews of this year are for Corporate Leader, Rounder and Science Illustrated. So, without further delay, click here for the 2008 premiere of What’s Hot, What’s New.

At the ripe age of 15, Townhall.com adds a print edition

What do you do when your web site reaches “2 million people coming to the site each month, over 250 columnists, 120 partner groups, a dozen talk radio shows, and more than 4,000 grassroots bloggers.” Very simple according to the folks at Townhall.com, the conservative website launched some 15 years ago by The Heritage Foundation. Distill all that information and put in one place: a magazine named Townhall. Chuck DeFeo, Co-Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the magazine wrote in the first issue, “The media landscape of today has grown so wide and so fast paced that it is difficult to keep up with it all. As we looked to 2008 we saw an opportunity to provide something that captures the myriad of voices and distills it into one product.” That one product is called a monthly magazine. Wow, just think, if such a product was not invented hundreds of years ago, what would the pundits write about this new product that distills and captures all kind of voices floating through the wilderness called the internet! I guess we have a tendency to forget about all the great technological inventions from paper to the magazines themselves. I have said it before and I will say it again, our problem is not with medium, it is with the content. Let us work on the content and see what wonderful results print, both magazines and newspapers can still deliver in this day and age.

The Best Launch Announcement of Them All…Elliott Samir Chaney

I do not usually use this space for personal information, but this time I am making a major exception. My first grandchild was born on Dec. 28 and I am pleased to share with y’all what my friend Steve Cohn wrote in today’s minonline:

The University of Mississippi journalism-department chairman is the expert on “magazine births,” but daughter Diala Husni Chaney gave him the best “launch” of all with the December 28, 2007, birth of his first grandchild, 8-pound/seven-ounce Elliott Samir Chaney. Congratulations to Diala and husband Phillip Chaney, and to Samir, wife Marie, and family.

Since neither Diala, an attorney, nor her two siblings, followed their Guide to New Magazines author/father’s footsteps, Samir hopes that perhaps a generation from now Elliott will be “Mr. Magazine Jr.” Stay tuned.

Snap a picture, write a post-card, and you will have a magazine you can call your own: Everywhere

You’ve heard me sing the praises of JPG magazine, the photo magazine that uses the best of the on-line and off-line technologies. (For those of you who need an explanation, that is the web and ink on paper combined). Now JPG has a sibling, and a very good one for that matter. Everywhere magazine which follows the same model as JPG is unlike any other travel magazine out there. They’ve claimed it a unique travel magazine and I agree. The magazine follows six easy steps in the process of its creation: See the world (that is you the reader), document your trip (that is your trip documented with words and pictures), upload your travel tales and photos on www.everywheremag.com, peer review (that is the rest of your travel community who did exactly the same thing that you’ve done), final selection (that is where the editors role and journalism come to play), and finally get published, get paid and receive a free subscription.
The entire idea of the magazine reminds me of a former student of mine and a good friend, who everywhere he travels, he buys postcards and addresses them to himself. He once told me that is how he keeps track of all his travels and all the great places he visits. At home, he has all the postcards in a folder that opens like a magazine page. Everywhere magazine is like that folder. Imagine yourself writing a postcard and sharing both the picture and the words on the web. Now imagine you have the opportunity to share it with the rest of the world. All of sudden you are part of a travel community who are only interested in sharing their trips and comparing notes with each other. Now, stop imagining because it is no longer a piece of fiction. It is a dream come true.
So sit back, relax and order yourself a copy of Everywhere…you don’t have to take my word for it, but rest assured it is not your father’s travel magazine. As I’ve mentioned earlier JPG and Everywhere are reinventing the way we combine two of the best technologies that have been invented so far, paper and on-line and the results should give hope to any one who believes in the future of reader interaction and consumer satisfaction.

Good things come in 3s (x 3): American Profile, Relish and now Spry

Spry will be the latest 9 million circulation new magazine launch from the Franklin, TN based Publishing Group of America (PGA). Spry, which will debut in Sept. 08, will be devoted to health and fitness and will join two other siblings, the weekly general interest magazine, American Profile (9.8 million circ.) and the food monthly, Relish (now at 9, next Jan. will hit 12 million circulation). The success story of PGA reached a new milestone today by being acquired by Bain Capital Ventures and Shamrock Capital Growth Fund (Roy Disney family). In a press release issued today the new owners said, “The deal opens a new chapter in the phenomenal growth of PGA, which has bucked the magazine industry trend by turning newspapers into a pipeline for innovation in magazines, digital media and branded content.”
Both American Profile and Relish have received the Most Notable Magazine Launch Award in their 2000 and 2006 launch years respectively from Mr. Magazine website and Samir Husni’s Guide to New Magazines.

New Magazine Launches: A Healthy November in a not so healthy year…

The November numbers of new magazine launches are in and they are almost as high as November of last year. The ones published four times or more were exactly the same as those of last year, the annuals and specials fell short 11 titles. So, recapping the November numbers, a total of 65 new titles were launched compared to that of 76 last November bringing the number of new magazines so far to 636 which is short 206 of the 842 new titles launched in the same period of 2006. The overall number of new titles launched with a frequency of four times or above so far this year has reached 221 compared to that of 312 for the same reporting period of 2006. It looks like the number for new magazine launches this year is going to be the lowest in more than a decade. It was 1992 when the number of new magazine launches was in the 600 figure. For a complete list and images of all the new titles of November 2007 and the rest of the new titles of the year so far please click here.